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Sorry, I didn't mean to suggest that the racism is widespread or limited to Germany. I've gone back and edited my comment to reflect that. As well I don't mean to suggest that the government in Germany condones racism, in fact the German (federal) government is often outstanding in it's response.

However, there is a growing racism over all of Europe (and for that matter almost everywhere else). Specifically in regards to Germany; There has been an increase in the number of attacks on minorities, verbal and physical. Mostly in the former communist areas of Germany.

"Germany has in the past two years seen right-wing crimes increase steadily and support grow for neo-Nazi parties as they successfully exploited unhappiness with high unemployment and hostility towards foreigners.

New figures compiled by the Interior Ministry show a 20 percent increase in racial crimes committed by the far-right. The results of the research come less than a month after the far-right National Democratic Party posted strong results in regional elections.

Statistics published last week showed that there were more 8,000
crimes linked to the far-right reported from January to the end of
August 2006, an increase of 20 percent compared to the same period in 2005."
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2214527,00.html

"The bad situation is compounded by the fact that Germans, in general, seem unwilling to accept the depth of racism in their society. As a result, those who should are not very eager to speak very frankly about it. The situation is so bad that many Africans who spoke to the press about racism in Germany refused to give their full names for fear of reprisals.

These fears were highlighted last month when Uwe-Karsten Heye, a former government minister, lamented the fact -- in a radio interview -- that people with dark skin "might not make it out alive" if they dared set foot in certain towns, especially in the Bradenburg region around Berlin.
http://www.imdiversity.com/villages/global/civil_human_equal_rights/RacismagainstBlacksinEurope.asp

And this article is about the problems facing the smaller soccer divisions in Germany:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,409517,00.html
I find the last 3 paragraphs particularly troubling.

On a more personal note, a Japanese friend of mine went to a German university starting in 2004. When he arrived he had a lot of trouble renting a place to live because, to quote several of the landlords, "you're not white". (I live in Japan and have the same problem except I hear, "You're not Japanese")

Again, I didn't intend to single Germany out. Racism or racist attacks are increasing in many parts of the world. The reasons for the increase are many and complicated, so unfortunately that means there is no quick fix.

"I'm not trying to be a jerk"
Hey, no worries! I didn't take it that way. I would rather someone challenge what I said and ask questions than mindlessly believe it.

Cheers!


In reply to your comment:
“I'm just wondering what you meant by this. Have there been more incidents like this in the past few years? What exactly evidences this growing amount of racism? I'm not trying to be a jerk, it's just that I lived in Germany a few years ago and didn't perceive racism to be on the rise. If things have happened since then, I'm curious to know what they were.

In reply to your comment:
“There has been a growing amount of racism in Germany over the last few years. It's one thing when it's morons on the street, it's a whole other thing when it's in the military!””

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